International Conference KNOWLEDGE-BASED ORGANIZATION Vol. XXVII No 3 2021 MODERN APPROACHES REGARDING CLASSIFICATION AND TERMINOLOGY OF FIREARMS UP TO 20MM IN CALIBER Florin ILIE, Dănuț-Eugeniu MOȘTEANU, Bogdan-Mihai GEORGESCU “Nicolae Bălcescu” Land Forces Academy, Sibiu, Romania
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[email protected] Abstract: One would outright tell the differences between a rifle and a machine gun. But what if the things get so much complicated so that only a minuscule detail becomes the key into telling if that piece of ordnance pertains to a specific category of arms, more precisely if it fits into a distinguished subcategory of armament. At the moment, there are indefinitely many ways of structuring firearms into certain categories, but the methods are vague and imprecise when it comes to types that are strongly related or similar. Thus, combining history records and the official texts of various institutions ensue a more complex and plausible method of firearms classification and terminology registering alike. Keywords: firearm, small arm, light weapon, rifle, machine gun 1. Preliminary Terminology and the other hand, each country has its own Definitions regulations regarding civilian usage of Small arms are to be used individually and armament and it is universally accepted that light weapons are designated as crew- a firearm means small arms and cartridge- served ordnance, while both of them are based light weapons. The same 20 mm in man-portable (figure 1). Described as such, caliber restriction applies too, but the they are systems of armament used by aspects of portability and utilization as armed forces.